where the votes are. can the gop moves forward, where the southern strategy is no longer viable, the big question is if they will stop trying to lure voters by playing on racial anxiety. the party will be better for it and america will be better, too, and i wonder if martin bashir thinks that is possible. >> it is, and we are not self-deporting. we are staying here. so thank you, toure, and good afternoon. it's monday, november the 19th, and how do you deal with republicans in congress? try the power of prayer. >> the next six weeks could be six weeks that shook the united states. >> i think the chances of america going off the cliff are at least 30%, 35%. >> the wealthiest americans have to pay their fair share.

>> why wouldn't the middle class voter look at that and say, these guys, the gop, are all about protecting the rich? >> americans voted divisively for fair share taxes on the richest. >> what was stupid about what romney said? >> i just think it's nuts. i mean, first of all, it's insulting. this would be like walmart having a bad week and going the customers have really been unruly. >> we're in a big hole. we're not getting out of it by comments like that. when you're in a hole, stop digging. he keeps digging. >> we don't need to demonize or stay stupid things. ♪ >> it is a busy monday for politics and policy both here at home and on the world stage. conflict is raging in the middle east, and we'll bring you more on that in just a moment. but first, the president is in

cambodia. a presidential first and the third and final stop on his southeast asia tour. he's also made a historic visit to myanmar urging further reforms there. and to thailand where he sought a little divine intervention for budget negotiations that are ongoing in washington. >> yes, we're working on this budget. we're going to need a lot of prayer for that. >> indeed, the prayer of a righteous man is effective, especially with just weeks to the so-called fiscal cliff, and on that front, the president's call to raise tax rates for the wealthy appears to be on a collision course with republicans' desire to close loopholes and deductions. an idea that minority leader nancy pelosi smacked down without the slightest hesitation. >> we've seen talk about a possible compromise that would leave rates the same but cap deductions for high income earners. is that something that's acceptable? >> no. >> not at all. no way. >> no, the president made it

very clear in his campaign there is not enough -- there are not enough -- what you just described is a formula and a blueprint for hampering our future. >> yes, it does seem that the gop's new ideas look a lot like their old ideas, which were just litigated in the election and lost. of course, mitt romney's chalked that up to gifts from the praez's president's camp. how is that going over? >> i just think it's nuts. i mean, first of all, it's insulti insulting. this would be like walmart having a bad week and going the customers have really been unruly. >> we'll grant mr. gingrich his share of schadenfreude but surely mr. romney is getting more support in other republican quarters for taking on the takers. >> we're in a big hole. we're not getting out of it by comments like that. when you're in a hole, stop digging. he keeps digging. >> if we want people to like us, we have to like them first. you don't start to like people by insulting them, by saying

their votes were bought. >> for anyone who wants to live their piece of the american dream, we have so show we're serious about reaching out and helping everyone, not just a group here or a group there. >> all right. republicans at the very least can count on outspoken mouthpiece for the makers, birther, bloviater, and block head in chief, donald trump to stand strong against higher taxes on the rich, right? >> bring our deficit down it a really manageable number. i'm okay with whatever they do as long as they get this country going again. >> okay. with whatever as long as they get this country going again. well, maybe thanksgiving has come early this year. let's get right to our panel. in washington, democratic strategist julian epstein and in chicago professor james peterson of lehigh university. good afternoon. julian, it seems mitt romney's legacy will include something other than just deriding 47% of the nation as parasights because

his idea of capping deductions is being discussed but will this produce enough revenue and will democrats be satisfied if taxes do not go up for the top 2% given what the president has already said? >> it's not that democrats want taxes to go up for anybody. it's just that the math doesn't work otherwise. if you begin to cap deductions, you may get taxes to 16% or 16.5% of gdp, but there is no republican in the congress that proposes spending to be less than 19% or 20% of gdp. even if you take the republicans' own math, it doesn't work. you have a huge gap you have to make up. that's point one. point two, as some republicans have pointed out, this was an issue that was litigated by the last election, and the democrats won this argument, and the polls show that the public is in favor of tax fairness. and what this is really about at this point it seems to me, martin, is whether the inmates are still in charge of the asylum or whether there is a

wing of republican party that's interested in governing. they will not win this issue. mark our words. we predicted pretty accurately on this program what will happen in the republican primaries. they have a choice whether they want to do it the easy way and show the country they can govern or do it the hard way and get beaten when president obama takes this case to the public. >> i was thinking of getting you to do the lottery for me because you called this right. professor peterson, after tasting disastrous election defeat, some conservatives are waving the right flag. take a listen to bill crystal on sunday. >> i believe republicans will yield a bit on top rates. i mean, president obama ran twice on this platform and he won last i looked both presidential elections. i just don't think republicans have the leverage or that it's worth using all their -- whatever leverage they have to maintain rates at 35% instead of 37% or 38%, especially if you can take it up to millionaires. >> professor, first donald trump

and now bill kristol. >> number one, the faux love affair with mitt romney is over, martin. it is done. he has dug himself enough of a hole post-election that people are realizing they have to distance themselves from him and his policy. a dirty secret about the loophole piece when you're talking about taxes is the fear that is that there are certain folks who will have these invisible loopholes and hide their money offshores. it's not about tax increases. it's about going back to the clinton era tax rates and at the end of the day the president has an exceptional strategy which is if we go over this fiscal cliff, he will be able to pressure the republican house to make a decision upon whether or not they want to raise taxes on 98% of americans. and that is a no-win situation for republicans. we're confronted with that kind of strategy. they should be talking more about how do we sort of negotiate here? how do we get to a point where

we get the top 2%, top 1% to go back to the clinton era tax cuts. it's not the only way of solving our crisis but it's a big step in the right direction. >> julian, it's not just americans who are beginning to realize we need a balanced approach as the recovery continues. here is the conservative mayor of london, boris johnson, who just gave a stretch today where he said this, and i'm quoting him. we need to abandon the rhetoric of austerity because if you endlessly tell business to tighten their belts and eat nut cutlets and drink their own urine, then you will be putting a big downer on growth and enterprise. now that those who believed in austerity have abandoned it, will paul ryan accept that the president's balanced approach is actually the better way to deliver economic growth? >> yes, and i think the comment from this colorful mayor as well as a lot of other european leaders should make both parties step back here. remember what the fiscal cliff, the prem m is -- the entire

premise that it is based on in august of 2011, which is that we had to have deficit reduction to match dollar to dollar the amount of debt ceiling extension. that is a good policy if we're in 3% or 4% economic growth but when the economy is growing at 1% or 2% growth you don't engage in fiscal austerity. 90% of all economists believe in keynesian economics. the idea now that we have to be facing a fiscal cliff when the economy is only at 2% is wrong and is wrong for most economists' point of view. if democrats and republicans are looking for a way out of the fiscal cliff, this whole idea of having to cut $1.6 trillion in january '13 is just a made up number. it's an artifice. there's no reason we need to stick to that. if we're looking for compromise, we should cut that number way back. there's no economic reason why we're doing that. >> very quickly. >> when we're talking about

austerity, economies are behavioral entities. you can shape economies by the kind of attitudes you inject. it does matter what the ideology of our economy is. >> and, of course, it's worth saying that 11 of those 27 nations in europe are back in recession because of austerity principles. >> exactly. >>allian epstein, professor james peterson thank you. next, paul ryan, come on down, usual the next contestant on let's make a deal. good luck. stay with us. >> let me get this straight, if your dry cleaning business succeeds with a democrat in office, you built that. if your dry cleaning office fails with a democrat in office, the government [ bleep ]ed you. it sounds like it's just convenient truths. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again. time for citi price rewind.

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while mitt romney was off with his wife ann taking in the new "twilight" movie, his running mate paul ryan is back in washington ready to have another go at it with the president this time over the fiscal cliff. we go to capitol hill and nbc's luke russert. it's great to see you again. you're not on capitol hill, you're in our studio, but that's okay, i forgive you. >> good afternoon, martin. how are you? >> gree >> great. explain this to me. mr. ryan fails to help mitt romney skaur enough votes to implement an austerity budget so now he's back to help john boehner secure enough votes versus the president to press for an austerity budget, is that right? >> yeah, that's correct, martin.

it's interesting, there's a lot of criticism saying paul ryan's vision for an american budget was routinely rejected flat out by voters a little more than a week ago. so why will he have such an impact in terms of the fiscal cliff negotiations? and the reason is that paul ryan, despite the presidential loss, continues to be the ideological godfather of the current republican budget -- >> but, luke, he just got ripped to shreds. he just got pulverized in the election. in fact, so many of his ideas, he had to go quiet on because they were so deficient and attacked during the presidential campaign. yet there you are now telling our audience he's back and republicans have him as their -- one of their main stakeholders. >> he's very much still an important player within the house republican conference. so much so that speaker boehner when it came to having a daily meeting about the fiscal cliff situation made the decision to bring in folks that had a committee in terms of

jurisdiction over the matter, so that put paul ryan in with budget and energy and commerce and upton. what you're going to see is going forward is paul ryan's fingers will be on any potential deal that could emerge between speaker boehner and president obama. and that's actually very important for speaker boehner because despite the loss that paul ryan had on a national level, he still has a considerable amount of clout within the house republican conference where a lot of folks will look towards where ryan goes. if ryan votes yes, that gives them enough cover to vote yes on a deal. >> the republican house conference seems to be operating in an alternative universe because mr. ryan told abc that the president didn't have a mandate. rather, he and his house gap gop have one. he said i think the ideas we talked about, i think they're popular ideas. did the election not happen?

>> when they say they're popular ideas, they believe that -- >> that the electorate dismissed them and did not vote for them. >> but they believe that the issue of the debt is still one that they're very strong on, that people do not like to have the $16 trillion debt, that their policies are the best moving forward. but, look, martin, if anything else what you are seeing here is a very smart political ploy by speaker boehner trying not to allow what happened in august of 2011 to happen again, which is one of his lieutenants not having his back. we saw that with eric cantor back in the summer of 2011. a lot of folks said that eric cantor was not brought in the circle enough with john boehner and was going to scuttle any deal he could have made with the president. so john boehner is doing some sort of, i would say, pre-emptive keeping his friends closer that time around than the last negotiation in the summer of 2011. >> luke russert explaining the inexplicable to our audience. thank you, sir, so much. >> take care.

the only subject on which republicans may be more disingenuous than the fiscal cliff is the subject of benghazi. we bring in clarence page, columnist for ""the chicago tribune."" welcome back. thank y >> thank you. >> you had the republicans on the sunday talk shows trying to peddle benghazi into something bigger. >> they are pushing it by raising questions and saying we need answers, we need answers, and they aren't going to wait for answers. they're going to imply or speculate that there was a cover-up of some kind in order to bury the idea that this was a terrorist attack and play up the anti-mohammed video. this has been the narrative that republicans have been pushing in order to raise suspicious. >> but, clarence, to your point about raising questions, i'm sorry to interrupt, but one --

the republican who heads the house intelligence committee, mike rogers himself, has used that tactic. take a listen to this. >> you think the president should have been told before election day? >> i'm not sure the president was not told before election day. >> you think -- that's news, that the president knew before election day. >> i didn't say that. i said i don't know. i find it -- we just have to ask the question. i hope he'll come out and talk to us about it. >> there we are, clarence, he's only asking questions. for instance, some people may wonder if mike rogers fit for his position as intelligence committee chair as he seems to be using it purely for partisan gain. i'm not saying he is, i'm just asking the question, clarence. >> just asking the question. doesn't this sound a lot like the whole birth certificate scam when donald trump and others were saying i'm not saying that he wasn't born in hawaii, but where is the proof that he is? and can we believe that birth certificate? you can go around and around the mulberry bush on this for days and weeks and i think a lot of

president obama's opposition wants to do that, but they still haven't come up with any evidence of a cover-up or even a reason why a cover-up except to say it was order to help his re-election chances. that is, you know, standard paranoid style of american politi politics, sort of a tactic, but it doesn't pin anything down. i think what we're finding though evidence shows that there was some change made by somebody. dianne feinstein says that she's convinced it was not the white house and that the only change made by the white house was very minor, had nothing to do with this question of whether it was a terrorist attack or not. and the problem is when a terrible tragedy like this happens, information comes flowing into intelligence circles and the state department like water into a fire hose and

you're trying to take a drink from it. there were reports related to the video at the same time there were reports of a terrorist attack coming in. at the end i think that's what this is going to shake out to be, a standard bit of early fog of war confusion. >> absolutely. clarence page, sir, thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up, republicans are shocked, shocked to find out that mitt romney's been looking down his nose at the american people. stay with us. >> i'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here. >> your winnings, sir. >> oh, thank you very much. it's time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. christine osborne wants you to shop small. the owner of wonders works, a charleston south carolina based toy store believes in cooperation instead of competition. she has a section dedicated to locally made products to make sure her customers' dollars stay local. for more, watch your business

sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc.

the president, who is in cambodia, called egyptian president mohamed morsi this evening to discuss the ongoing conflict in gaza. israeli air strikes have now killed at least 100 palestinians in six days of violence. three israelis have also been killed as both sides continue to fire across the border.

gaza militants launched more than 30 rockets today as the israeli prime minister authorized the mobilization of 75,000 army reservists. joining us now is nbc live from gaza. as peace talks continue in cairo, israel is demanding that hamas stop firing rockets across the border. is there a willingness to do this or has the number of civilian casualties made a cease-fire now much less likely? >> well, you know, the fact that the negotiations are ongoing is an indication that palestinian factions can abide by the truce. in fact, in the past it's been on multiple occasions documented that palestinian factions have been committed to the truce until there's been some kind of violation, if you will, from the israeli side that israel justifies as an act in its own security. nonetheless, palestinian factions say they have abided by it in the past, they would abide

by it again in the future if there is one in place. the question is can they get to that agreement in the next couple hours before time runs out. and the question really surrounding the truce have to deal with the cessation of hostilities. israel wants an immediate cessation of hostilities. then enter into negotiations about lifting a five-year-old siege and blockade on gaza. palestinians say that is unacceptable. that it has to be an immediate cessation of violence and an immediate lifting of the siege and blockade. the question is whether or not egyptians and the backing of the international community can narrow the gap between these two sides in the coming hours. and i think we're going to learn a lot more about it shortly after the israeli cabinet meeting concludes, which is under way right now in jerusalem, but also after egypt's president concludes another round of meetings with the u.n. secretary-general and other important regional allies tomorrow in cairo. martin? >> thank you for your reporting and do stay safe. stay with us. the day's "top lines" are coming

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from governor chris christie dodging a twinkie, question that is, to a ding-dong named donald. here are today's "top lines." good vibrations. >> put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty and meet me tonight in atlantic city. >> president obama must get back at the right wing hacks that tried to paint him as an angry black man pushing a liberal agenda by becoming an angry black man. >> seriously you're not asking me about hassess twinkies are you? >> the general pulled out a synthetic wig. >> the husband is not leaving her. he's staying? >> he's staying. >> times change. >> glorified gypsy grifter. >> seen here in the same clip because it's the only footage we

have. >> loser people try to have affairs in the digital age, the head of the cia couldn't get away with it. >> who does the cooking at your house? >> my wife. >> somebody told me you didn't have the apron on basting the turkeys. >> we're not going anywhere and you got a home boy in the deal. >> we're fuelly supportive of israel's right to defend itself. >> you believe the president deliberately mislead the american people about the true -- >> no. >> she could start out by publicly saying i was wrong. that might be a beginning. >> would you accept a deal that does not include tax rate increases for the wealthy? >> no. >> i believe republicans will yield a bit on top rates. president obama ran twice on this platform and he won. >> we're not the party trying to protect the rich. >> we have to show we're serious about reaching out and helping everyone. >> and we also don't need to be saying stupid things. >> it keeps digging a hole for the republican party. if we don't stop digging we're never going to get out of it.

>> this would be like walmart having a bad week and saying the customers have been really unruly. >> if if a buddhist monk is wishing me well, i'm going to take whatever good vibes he can give me. >> karen finney is an msnbc analyst. ana marie cox is with "the guardian. good afternoon to all of you. as you know, i love you women. karen, given all the outright condemnation of mitt romney by republicans, one might have assumed they'd never, ever heard mr. romney's rhetoric of contempt until this weekend. >> oh, heavens no, or no concerns about president obama learning to be an american or even embracing some of the language about the welfare reform language. look, the thing is, i have said this before, it's not just mitt romney. there are others in the party

who have been talking like this for a very long time, and no one, but no one has stood up to stop them or to say, hey, this is wrong. it's part of the reason, frankly, that the whole birther narrative garnered so much resentment. >> so why are they doing it now? >> now they're trying to pretend that the horror, we would never talk like that. now we're trying to turn the page and, you know, put some paint on that and pretend like that didn't happen. now we're allowed to say things like revenue. i mean, it's a totally different world now, martin. come on. >> indeed. anna marie, for all those republicans who may have been completely blindsided by mr. romney, here is a little refresher from the campaign trail. >> if you're looking for free stuff you don't have to pay for, vote for the other guy. he promises you all sorts of free stuff. i'm going to give you this and give you that, you're going to have this and that. health care, food, housing to you name it. >> government planned life. a country where everything is free but us. >> anna marie, given he's been

saying this stuff for almost a year, are republicans really being honest when they say they don't agree with mitt romney because they didn't say anything to contradict him for about 12 months. >> oh, not only did they not say anything to contradict him, he was defended and people went on to say he was right and they created defenses that were along the lines ever, and i think this is actually what they believe, maybe it's not 47%. you know, maybe it's more like 27%. the republican party is sort of founded on the idea there are makers and takers and there's some quibbling about whether that's most of the country or just some of the country. the big difference in ideology here is the feeling among post progressives and democrats that the makers and takers dichotomy is not the dichotomy to look at the country through. that's not the right lens. that the lens is some people are successful. some have struggles. we help those who are struggling and those who are not struggling, do what they can, they pay their part. that's a fundamental difference in world view. i think with republicans it comes down to how much of the

country do they think is lazy. i mean, i still hear a lot of rhetoric and i think the other two panelists would agree, there's still a lot of rhetoric about obama being the food stamp president which is one of the most coded words we heard in the run up to the election that wasn't so obviously racial but still raises a lot of resentment with people who think of themselves as being sort of in the middle. maybe got a little angry at romney for saying 47% but still think of some people as being not deserving. >> professor, to anna marie's point, before we allow republicans to somehow run away from mitt romney, this notion of the nation divided between workers and parasites is very much a long-standing philosophical position, isn't it? >> it goes all the way back to the notion of the puritan work ethic and that this country is founded on this notion of hard work and those people should be rewarded. what's problematic about the takers and the makers dichotomy, i think it needs to be inverted. it's that you have all these

people who are in unions, undocumented laborers in the united states, all these people who really are being -- they're not parasites of the system but they are committed and giving so much back to the united states and yet they're the ones that are seen as moochers or takers. i think this is true. it's the republican philosophy, but it's false. and it also needs to be not just got away with, but we can also invert it or reverse it as well. >> karen, a lot of republicans in this campaign seemed pretty nostalgic for the past and in particular the 1950s. paul krugman points out today that those were years of much higher taxes on the rich, much bigger labor unions and lo and behold, the economy was very strong in that era. what changed over the years to make them so harmful? >> well, martin, i think what they miss about the 1950s was the last couple of sentences that paul krugman talks about, and that is that women and minorities we knew our place back then and seemingly the rules were simple, right? everybody knew their place, everybody knew what they were

supposed to do, and now we're living in a much more complicated society. also, we lived our lives very differently back then. you went to college, you got married, you had a job, and that was everything was pretty much laid out for a certain sector of the population. so that sort of dream of what is the nostalgia for a certain america was for a certain group of people and not for most of us. >> we just heard donald trump reflecting in answer to question that he would never dream of cooking the turkey because that would be the role for his wife and that, of course, is the position i guess the world view that he would like to replicate in 2012 directly from the 1950s. >> i think the problem with this world view, this row mantization of the 1950s doesn't look back to the '30s which is what the people if the '50s remembered. they remembered times of bread lines, when women had to go to work because the men were in the service and fighting world war 2. there was a clear vision of what

happened when the nation faltered to its quest for equality and when the nation came together. i think there wasn't the resentment toward unions. unions were seen as a function of bringing people together and protecting people ae's work ande gender roles were stratified. karen is totally right. there was a blindness to the struggles of women and minorities so we can focus on that picture perfect norman rockwell style family and forget about everything else. clearly donald trump is living in a fantasy land to begin with. what era he wants to live in is up to him. it's never going to match up with reality. >> professor, do you agree with what anna marie said and how does the republican party shake itself away from these kind of historic and old-fashioned ideas and confront the reality of a modern america where actually women are more important than just having them out there as tokens?

>> i do agree with the 1950s are seen as the last gasp of white male pate riay. it was also the birth of the mod he were civil rights movement. the 19 50s were much more complicated than republicans who are cherry picking american history like to portray. they want to believe it really was as fictitious as "leave it to beaver" when the other image of the 19 50s is little rock nine and the desegregation of the american schools. it's always in contrast to the more open $1,960 a196 0s and i they're afraid the second decade of the 21st century is as rich as the 1960 was for a lot of americans and rich being diversity. >> karen, anna marie, and professor tillot. thank you. don't move a muscle. next, scott walker, bobby jindal, jeb bush. yes, the gop is all set to take

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if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. it's less than two weeks since republicans got trounced at the polls and already they're looking for a new presidential nominee. there's no shortage of potential candidates, of course, but can the party really move forward without taking stock of the problems that caused them to lose so badly in the not too distant past? we're back with our panel now, and i want to go straight to ana marie cox. we saw senator marco rubio in iowa this weekend generating a lot of buzz about 2016, and in an interview he gave to "gq" he was asked how old he thinks the earth is and senator rubio responded, i'm not a scientist, man. so i guess he knows what the base wants with creation. >> i have to say, i think marco

rubio is one of the smartest young men in politics today. >> but he doesn't know how old the world is. >> oh, he's smart to not answer. he knows -- if he knows how old the word is. he's the guy that followed an empty chair at the rnc. so, you know, he really knows how to lower the bar for himself. i'm sure he's trying to downplay all the 2016 speculation. there are tons of republicans that really want him to run. i think they are going to be dangling a lot of money in front of him to get into the race sooner rather than later. there's a hope he can be -- it's a kind of con sending but people think of him as the latino barack obama p.. >> of course. there you go. >> he's only marco rubio. he's very young. actually not tried on the national stage. he's been kind of coy his entire career about how much further he wants to go. he's been skillful at keeping the tea party at an arm's distance. i'm sure he's going to get in.

i'm sure he's going to continue to play up the speculation for as long as he can and he's going to continue to follow the mitt romney playbook of saying as little as possible for as long as possible. >> absolutely. karen, a conservative pundit named charlotte allen has already endorsed sarah palin for president in 2016. let me read part of this endorsement and please tell me your response. palin can more than keep up with the democrats in appealing to voters' emotions. hardly anyone could be more blue collar than palin, out on the fishing boat with her hunky blue collar husband, todd. >> you know, the gods should only be so kind to democrats a second time around. >> really? >> are you kidding? sarah palin back on the campaign trail? here is the thing, the other thing about what marco rubio said, it wasn't just that he said he didn't know, he said it's disputed, it's unresolved the age of the earth. if that's the conversation republicans want to have during a presidential primary, let's go. that's great.

>> professor, another potential leader is louisiana governor bobby jindal. here is his first offering on a refreshed republican party. listen to this. >> we need to make it very clear, we're not the party trying to protect the rich. they can protect themselves. >> how do republicans shift the perception that they're the party of the rich, particularly if they won't agree to taxes going up on the top 2% of earners? this country? >> i also think with jindal in particular and his pushing back against obama care. on the one hand they're repudiating romney's comments and saying they're the party of all americans yet when it comes to health care jindal is saying the federal government can control it in his states. so i think there you see a contradiction or at least a paradox in their policy in their actual rhetoric. i think going forward we'll see someone like jindal have to wrestle with that. he doesn't want to have romney care a la obama care hanging over his head in 2016 and yet he's trying to say he's for all

americans and they should be the party of law louisianans or americans. it's too paradoxical to answer right now. >> we've all damned them with faint praise, jindal, rubio, and, of course, sarah palin. did you want to throw something else in, karen? >> i was going to say the other problem with this frame that the makers and the takers that jindal is sort -- that these guys are all trying to hide and shy away from is let's not forget those makers, they sure get a lot of corporate welfare. i have no doubt that if we stacked up the amount of corporate well fair they get that the republicans prodetective and the amount of money we spend on the social safety net, somehow i don't think that the takers are the ones who are taking the most out of that e quaths. >> i think that's abundantly clear. profess professor, karen, and anna marie, thank you all. next we head inside the white house but first amanda drury has the cnbc market wrap. >> stocks rallied into the close as wall street saw its best day

in two months. the dow closed up 207 points, the s&p added 27 and the nasdaq gained by 62. that's the scoreboard for today. we'll see what tomorrow is like. back to you. with the spark cash card from capital one, sven gets great rewards for his small business! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve great rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice.

president obama today became the first sitting american president to visit cambodia where he pressed for fair elections, the protection of human rights, and the release of political prisoners. the visit comes on the heels of a historic stop in myanmar, a country that is slowly embracing democratic change and which greeted him with cheering crowds. tomorrow he meets with the leaders of japan and china before heading back to washington. waiting for him will be nbc's kristin welker who is live for us at the white house. i understand earlier today in cambodia the president actually spoke to both israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and

egyptian president morsi. can you tell us any more about what happened during those conversations? >> reporter: well, good afternoon, martin. i can tell you president obama, first of all, expressed his condolences to both leaders for the loss of israeli and palestinian life. in talking to president morsi, he also expressed his condolences for the loss of life in egypt due to that train accident. he also stressed the importance of de-escalating violence in gaza, specifically in terms of talking to president morsi. talked about the importance of urging hamas to end its rocket fire that is right now going into israel. he spoke with prime minister netanyahu and also sort of stressed the importance of de-escalating this situation. of course, president morsi has been charged with trying to broker a cease-fire in the region, so i imagine president obama also addressed that as well. but, martin, this situation sort of underscores how tough it is for president obama to carry the office of the presidency with him wherever he goes. as you just mentioned, he's

taking this historic trip to southeast asia. this administration really trying to shift its focus away from the middle east, away from the wars in iraq and afghanistan, and to asia, to sort of be a counter balance to china in that region, but it's really a challenge. this violence flaring up in the middle east sort of underscores how challenging it really is. >> indeed. when he gets back, kristin, it's all about getting a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff or fiscal slope. yorn what your preference is. over the weekend the president reached out to the likes of warren buffett, jpmorgan chase ceo, jamie dimon. what was the purpose of those calls particularly? >> reporter: it was a continuation of what president obama had been doing all of last week which is to get stakeholders on board with him and on board with some of his policy proposals. also to listen to some of their proposals for how to avoid going over the fiscal cliff, but certainly president obama believes that he ran on a platform of increasing taxes on wealthier americans. he has made the point publicly

that he won this election so he believes that the majority of americans agree with him. he is hoping that if he gets some ever these stakeholders on board, business leaders and union lerd he is will help to put the pressure on congress to get a deal done before the first of the year. >> nbc's kristin welker at the white house. thank you. we'll be right back. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it!

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it's time now to "clear the air." and all eyes are focused on the challenge that faces us in the form of the fiscal cliff negotiations ap msnbc.com we know, republicans set out their sto stall and promised not to raise taxes and lost the election. the president has made it clear on this issue he has a mandate. >> if there was one thing

everybody understood was a big difference between myself and mr. romney, it was when it comes to how we reduce our deficit, i argued for a balanced responsible approach and part of that included making sure that the wealthiest americans pay a little bit more. >> this, of course, is in direct contrast to the mantra of mitt romney and paul ryan, both of whom argued that the problem facing america is not so much its budget, but more its people. people who in the peerless words of mitt romney want free stuff from government. it's hardly surprising that the people rejected the romney/ryan analysis, particularly since it includes military veterans, the elderly, and the disabled. but not only is their analysis complete dawdlwa twadle, it fai recognize something economists know, professor richard laird found that a balanced approach

to a fiscal deficit not only balances the budget, it also improves a nation's overall sense of contentment. he found two characteristics he says are crucial to our sense of economic well-being, and they have nothing whatsoever to do with dividing society between makers and takers. he says this. people are happier if they are compassionate. they are happier if they are thankful. when life gets rough, these qualities become ever more important. compassion and gratitude. what better way to begin the week of thanksgiving and to shape the negotiations that must be resolved by the end of this year? thank you so much for watching today. chris matthews and "hardball" picks things up right now.